Regional Markets

Regional Markets for Local Development
Gender
A gender-sensitive approach seeks to examine whether men and women are affected
differently by development interventions in a structural way. Women and men are participating
differently in the value chain; there are different benefits for women and men.
This is connected to power relationships in the broader societal and economic context.
The difference plays out differently in regional market value chains (i.e. compared to
export-oriented markets). Does a regional market focus support an inclusive strategy,
especially concerning women? Due to the limited scope of this publication, it is not
possible to fully answer this question here, but we will make an attempt to evaluate the
impact of gender in the framework of regional market value chains 20 .
Most small-scale farmers who produce food crops are women. Men are more frequently
engaged in cash crop production, and even when men also participate in the
main food crops they often retain control over sales of the crop. As this publication
seeks to shift the analysis from cash crops towards food commodities, the gender aspect
of agricultural production and development is important. The exclusion of poor, female
producers from value chains—and especially from the associated benefits of access to
innovation, increased incomes, knowledge as well as increased self-awareness and selfconfidence—is
a key challenge in value chain development. Gender considerations are
not always given due weight in value chain research, but move to the centre of the discussion
more often when food commodities are concerned.
We encounter two scenarios: approaches that are not gender specific, and approaches
that explicitly promote local opportunities for women in regional markets. At the end
of this section the relative position of the cases along the ‘gender-sensitive approach
continuum’ is mapped graphically.
The most clearly gender-sensitive approach can be seen in the NGOMA case. In their
intervention area, the livestock belongs to the men, who also control maize production.
In practice, however, 80% of the women are involved in farming activities, which
is why NGOMA explicitly works to have the voice of women smallholders heard and
acknowledged. Two-thirds of the farmers groups are women’s groups. NGOMA promotes
gender parity in its governance structures at district level too, by having one
woman and one man representative. Also, one out of the four members of the National
Steering Committee is a woman.
In Bangladesh, the improved participation and involvement of women can especially
be seen in the local centres set up by FoSHoL. These bio-diversity centres produce
20 For a more elaborate discussion see KIT, Agriprofocus and IIRR, 2012.
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